Tag: Greatest Games

ESPN: Georgia played in five of the top 60 CFB games of 2000s

ESPN released a list of the greatest CFB games of the century. Georgia played in five of them, including four of the top ten.

In a fun offseason exercise, ESPN released its list of the top 60 college football games since the turn of the century.

Georgia fans have had no shortage of great games to watch over the last two decades and the Bulldogs were listed five times, including four times in the top 10. The unfortunate part is the Bulldogs came out victorious in only one of those five.

Somber, however, is difficult to find within DawgNation these days given the 2021 college football season ended with Georgia snapping a 41-year drought by beating Alabama for the national championship.

Here are the five Georgia games that made ESPN’s list of the greatest games of the 2000s, plus two I think could have made it as well.

Notre Dame Football: Stream All 2000 Home Games

2000 was a surprise season that saw Notre Dame go to the BCS. Relive all six home games online NOW!

I have been a passionate Notre Dame football fan for as long as I can remember.  Most kids in my class grew up loving everything in regards to the Chicago Bears but that has never quite been the case for me as I’ve always enjoyed the college game and specifically Notre Dame football more.

I was a freshman in high school in the fall of 2000 and had never been to a game before.  My sister was starting her freshman year at St. Mary’s College that same fall which meant my fandom went from “strong” to “obsessive”.

Maybe I’ll write more about that season in the not so distant future but in the meantime I’ll let you know that all home games from the 2000 Notre Dame football season are available to stream.

Week One:  vs. Texas A&M
Notre Dame is coming off just a five-win season in 1999 but starts the 2000 season right with an impressive showing against Texas A&M as the Aggies make their first-ever trip to Notre Dame Stadium.

Week Two:  vs. No. 1 Nebraska
For the first time since 1993 the top-ranked team in the country came to South Bend.  Seemingly 50,000 Nebraska fans made the trip to see two Notre Dame special team scores and Bob Davie play for overtime.  Whoops.

Week Three:  vs. No. 13 Purdue
After Arnaz Battle broke his hand against Nebraska, Gary Godsey was called upon to help get the Irish a win.  Their defense and special teams helped out as Nick Setta’s game-winning field goal as time expired sent the Irish to 2-1.

Week Six: vs. Stanford
After a loss at Michigan State two weeks earlier and coming off a bye, Matt LoVecchio made his first start for the Irish in what would be the first of seven-straight wins to close the regular season.  Of just as much importance, this was the first Notre Dame football game I ever attended.

Week Nine: vs. Air Force
Following a pair of wins over both Navy and West Virginia, Notre Dame returned home at 5-2 to take on a pesky Air Force team.  Thanks to heroics from Glenn Earl and Joey Getherall, a stunning upset was avoided.

Week Eleven: vs. Boston College
Following the thriller over Air Force, Notre Dame enjoyed a bye week before welcoming Boston College to South Bend for Senior Day.  The Irish controlled things for the duration in this one, winning 28-16 and finishing the home season 5-1.

Notre Dame would go on to beat Rutgers and USC on the road, finishing the season an unlikely 9-2 and earning a berth in the BCS for the first time where they would get run out of the building by Chad Johnson and No. 5 Oregon State.

Notre Dame Lacrosse: Best Game Winning Goals of Decade

Craving sports? Check out 10 classic finishes from Notre Dame lacrosse during their last decade that included four Final Four appearnaces.

Notre Dame has had an incredibly successful lacrosse program over the last decade as they advanced to the Final Four of May Madness four times in that span, twice advancing to the national championship match.

With no sports going on the men’s lacrosse program got some love from the sports media department on campus as the ten best game-winning plays by the Notre Dame men’s lacrosse team were counted down.

Some great moments to remember including knocking off some of the top teams in the country (it’s always good whenever Syracuse loses at anything) and in advancing in both the conference and NCAA Tournaments.

How to Watch the 1989 Fiesta Bowl Tonight

No plans Friday night? No problem. Pull up a seat and watch Notre Dame cap it’s 1988 national championship with a win over West Virginia.

If you’ve got no plans on Friday or heck, even if you do and you’re looking for something to watch later on, tune in or set your DVR tonight as Notre Dame’s Fiesta Bowl win over West Virginia will air at 7 p.m. ET on NBC Sports Network.

Tony Rice led the way for Notre Dame in what remains their last national championship clincher.  He finished with a few huge passes, completing seven of 11 attempts for 213 yards and two touchdowns.

What will also be fun for this game is that if you’re active on Twitter you can follow along as a couple of stars from that 1988 Notre Dame team will share their thoughts throughout the game.

So if you don’t have plans this Friday night then now you do or at least can.  What’s always weird to me about this game is that as Zorich kind of says in his video, because of the Michigan, Miami and USC games that year, the national championship win over West Virginia feels like the third or fourth most memorable game in my mind.

Notre Dame Football – Saturday Night Rewatch

Notre Dame is again going to stream an old game this Saturday night but it will most likely be one from long before Brian Kelly’s run with the Irish began.

Last week Notre Dame debuted their rebroadcast of the 2015 opener against Texas on their Facebook page and had Brian Kelly, Malik Zaire and others commenting along the way during the 38-3 blowout of Texas.  I’ll admit right away that the blowout type of game that was didn’t hold my attention for too long and the pier pressure of having not yet seen “Tiger King” at that point led me seven hours of watching that instead.

This weekend I have no “Tiger King” however and unless I’ve missed something, there isn’t a new binge-worthy show that’s been released in recent days.

How convenient, because Notre Dame is again going to stream an old game this Saturday night but it will most likely be one from long before Brian Kelly’s run with the Irish began.

Voting is open now on the Notre Dame Football Twitter page for which game they’ll show with two from the Lou Holtz era, one from Charlie Weis’ second season and a last-minute thriller from last year among the candidates.

I voted for 1993 Florida State.  Not just because it’s in the Final Four of our own greatest game tournament here at FIW, but because of a few other reasons:

1. 2019 Virginia Tech is still way too fresh in our minds. Had it been a year that the win saved a big-time bowl appearance then I’d be on board but at the end of the day it was “just” a thrilling come from behind victory (on the day my newborn daughter came home from the hospital).

2.  The 1992 win over Penn State is probably a huge reason I became the Notre Dame football fan that I am.  I loved Bettis and Brooks in the backfield and was a Rick Mirer apologist when the Bears traded for him years down the road.  I did however just have this on in the background while working from home last week so it’s a bit too fresh in my mind.

3.  The UCLA comeback was a thriller that saved a BCS berth (that ended in a rout).  That said, a couple of Notre Dame legends connecting late for a game-winning touchdown when just minutes earlier it appeared all hope was lost is great.  This was a classic and had it not been stacked against biggest win of my Notre Dame watching life, I’d have picked it.

4.  Notre Dame vs. Florida State in 1993 was nothing short of awesome in every way.  The hype, NBC’s “Main Street” introduction to the broadcast, Florida State taking the early lead before the Irish take complete control the majority of the afternoon before the eventual Heisman Trophy winner leads an epic near-comeback that gets batted away by Shawn Wooden.  Yeah, inject it into my veins, please.

You have only a couple hours left to vote on that on the Notre Dame Football Twitter page so go ahead and do that and in the meantime, if you haven’t already, go ahead and vote in our Final Four as we determine the best Notre Dame game (had to be a win) since 1986.

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FIW Tournament 2020: Final Four Set After Two Upsets

Will it be the top two seeds meeting in the championship? Our final four is set, take a look and make your votes now.

We’ve reached the end of the road, the Final Four has been determined by you, the Fighting Irish Wire viewers.  The tournament was all chalk through three rounds with only one and two seeds remaining in the Elite Eight.  Well, we’ve reached the Final Four and a pair of those one seeds won’t be joining us in it.

Your Elite Eight Results:

Basilica Region:

It’s one of the greatest games in all of college football history, not just Notre Dame football history so it should be no surprise whatsoever that Notre Dame’s 31-30 win over Miami in 1988 rolled its way through the Basilica Regional.  The classic 1988 affair again dominated in the regional final as it knocked out the second seeded Sugar Bowl upset of Florida from the 1991 season, 95-5%.

We figured it’d be tough to slow down but we thought maybe there were some Jerome Bettis die-hards out there that would have voted for upsetting Spurrier.  Nope, not the case.

Grotto Region:

In the Final Four it will be the ’88 Miami game facing a two-seed as it was the 1992 Penn State game getting by the ’89 team’s Orange Bowl upset of top-ranked Colorado, 58-42%.

Which game meant more?  Beating and ruining a team’s chances at a national championship in the Orange Bowl is about as big as anything short of winning your own title – or so we thought.

There is something about doing it on your home field, in snowy conditions and all of it happening in the final home game in the career of Jerome Bettis, Reggie Brooks and Rick Mirer.  Now factor in the how, a last-second comeback over a team that had won a pair of national titles themselves in the decade previous and stacked with future NFL players.

The upset in the Orange Bowl was great, but somehow South Beach just doesn’t hold a candle to a snowy November day in South Bend.

At least not in this case.

Other side of the bracket results…

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Notre Dame Football: Elite Eight Voting – Golden Dome Region

The Golden Dome Regional Final finds Notre Dame’s last national championship clincher meeting up with the final regular season game that year, a 1. Notre Dame vs. 2. USC match-up.  As you’re probably not surprised, 1988 remains well-represented in this as we continue to narrow things down.

We have reached the Elite Eight in determining the greatest Notre Dame football game since 1986.  As we said upon selection, there were some great ones that didn’t end in Notre Dame’s favor, no doubt.  We did decide make the requirement that Notre Dame did in fact need to win in order to garner consideration for a tournament berth.

The Golden Dome Regional Final finds Notre Dame’s last national championship clincher meeting up with the final regular season game that year, a 1. Notre Dame vs. 2. USC match-up.  As you’re probably not surprised, 1988 remains well-represented in this as we continue to narrow things down.

Tale of the Tape:

What else is there really to say other than “Notre Dame clinched a national championship!” when they beat West Virginia to cap the 1988 season in the Fiesta Bowl.  If you require more though, here you go: Notre Dame was in control for the majority, winning 34-21 and also out-gaining the Mountaineers by 173 yards.  It was dominating for a title performance which to me would probably be the third or fourth most-memorable game from that season, actually.

In order to get to the Fiesta Bowl and have a national championship shot though, Notre Dame had to finish the regular season unbeaten.  To do that the No. 1 Fighting Irish had to go to No. 2 USC and take care of business against Rodney Peete and the Trojans.  They had to do so without Ricky Watters or Tony Brooks who were sent home for missing team dinner Friday night.  Notre Dame lost everywhere that day except the scoreboard and turnover battle.  On just eight first downs and 253 yards (21/356 for USC), Notre Dame completed the perfect regular season with a 27-10 win in the Coliseum.

So Who Moves On – You Decide…

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And don’t forget to vote in the other regional finals, either:

Basilica Region: ’88 Miami vs. ’91 Florida

Grotto Region:  ’89 Colorado vs. ’92 Penn State

Hesburgh Region: ’93 Florida State vs. ’12 Oklahoma

Voting will close Monday evening at 10 p.m. ET so get it done now and share with your friends until then.

FIW Notre Dame Tournament – Basilica Regional Final Voting

In the Basilica Region we saw the top overall seed, ’88 Miami roll into the Elite Eight with a destruction of the ’93 Michigan game.  That game will meet Notre Dame’s upset win over No. 3 Florida to cap the 1991 season in the Sugar Bowl.

We have reached the Elite Eight in determining the greatest Notre Dame football game since 1986.  As we said upon selection, there were some great ones that didn’t end in Notre Dame’s favor, no doubt.  We did decide make the requirement that Notre Dame did in fact need to win in order to garner consideration for a tournament berth.

In the Basilica Region we saw the top overall seed, ’88 Miami roll into the Elite Eight with a destruction of the ’93 Michigan game.  That game will meet Notre Dame’s upset win over No. 3 Florida to cap the 1991 season in the Sugar Bowl.

Tale of the Tape:

The Catholics vs. Convicts is an iconic sports t-shirt that became what this game was as known for as anything.  An upstart Notre Dame team in Lou Holtz’s third season ended with a Notre Dame win over defending champion Miami that had everything from a pre-game fight between the teams, Holtz wanting to kick Jimmy Johnson’s butt and a slew of turnovers that led to the last-second win and led to Notre Dame’s 1988 National Championship.

The 1991 season started with the Irish going 8-1 before stumbling late against Tennessee and at Penn State.  Notre Dame ultimately finished the regular season 9-3 after winning at Hawaii yet earned a berth in the Sugar Bowl, much to the chagrin of the nation.  Holtz claimed before the game that a stranger asked him the difference between Cheerios and Notre Dame and told him that “Cheerios belong in a bowl.”  Notre Dame, led by three Jerome Bettis second half touchdowns pulled the upset over No. 3 Florida in what remains the only ever meeting between the two programs.

So which upset win over a Florida based school do you have moving on to the Final Four?

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The winner will meet the winner of ’89 Colorado and ’92 Penn State who are meeting in the Grotto Regional Final.

2020 FIW Tournament – Sweet 16 Completed – Who Moves on?

So here they are, your Sweet 16 results in the Fighting Irish Wire Tournament.

The debut tournament here at Fighting Irish Wire has moved on to the Elite Eight and without spoiling the results, let me just say what a tremendous job the selection committee did.  Think they know a thing or two about the history of Notre Dame football?  Clearly you do because your votes reflected their thinking a couple weeks back.

(@nickshepkowski and @jf_fey on Twitter if you’re looking for a few folks to follow 😉

So here they are, your Sweet 16 results in the Fighting Irish Wire Tournament.

Basilica Region:

’88 Miami rocked ’93 Michigan like a hurricane, 97-3%.  Frankly, we’re a bit surprised it was even that close.  Catholics vs. Convicts now meets up with the Sugar Bowl win over Florida to end 1991 as the “Cheerios Bowl” escaped with the closest win in round-three, a 57-43 victory over ’18 Michigan.

Grotto Region:

The 1989 season ended with Notre Dame knocking off No. 1 Colorado in the Orange Bowl and ruining the title dreams of the Buffaloes.  Notre Dame’s last Orange Bowl win moved on with a 67-33 win over the ’17 destruction of USC.  The second-seeded “Snow Bowl” over Penn State in ’92 moved on as well as it won nearly 80% of the votes against the ’02 thriller at Michigan State.

Hesburgh Region:

Many think the only game that could potentially play with Catholics vs. Convicts is the ’93 win over Florida State.  The ’93 version of “The Game of the Century” rolled in round-three, a 93-7 winner over ’02 Florida State.  It meets ’12 Oklahoma who won easily over ’12 Michigan, 82-18.

Golden Dome Region:

The ’88 team concluded with a Fiesta Bowl win over West Virginia that clinched the title.  That victory understandably rolled the ’88 opener, an escape over Michigan, 75-25.  On the bottom part of the Golden Dome region it was the ’88 regular season finale beating up the ’06 comeback against UCLA, 78-22.

The eight remaining contests now fight for their chance to reach the Final Four.  Voting starts Thursday night and will go through Sunday.

2020 FIW Tournament: Sweet 16 Voting is Open! (Best Notre Dame Game Since ’86)

We are in the Sweet 16 round of the tournament to decide Notre Dame’s best football game since 1986. Are any of the favorites on upset-alert this round?

And here we are, just 16 entries remaining as we continue our tournament at Fighting Irish Wire to determine the best Notre Dame football game (had to be a win) since Lou Holtz began his run in 1986.

Through two rounds we’ve seen mostly chalk with a couple of exceptions:

The sixth seeded 2002 Michigan State is alive in the Grotto Region while fellow-six seed 2006 UCLA remains alive in the Golden Dome Region.

11th seeded 2012 Michigan is still alive in the Hesburgh Region as it enters the Sweet 16 as the lowest remaining seed in the entire tournament.

All four one and two seeds remain as do three of the four, three seeds.  Can any of these Cinderella’s continue their runs to the Elite Eight?  Now is your chance to decide – voting will be open until Wednesday evening:

CLICK NEXT TO VOTE

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